Quick report
See avalanche description SE face was not wind loaded. Once we got down below the first band of cliffs on the NE face of the bowl the snow became variable with wind skim and breakable crust. Avalanche occurred in the first pinch of the gut.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- overcast
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5 R1
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 8800 ft
We dropped into the first pinch through a cliff band in the gut and my partner rode through the pinch and waited for me. This is a short steep slope maybe 45-50 degrees between a cliff band. As I entered and navigated the breakable crust through the pinch, the snow broke away, caught me off my feet and buried me below the cliff band. It was only a 60 foot slide but it was enough to bury and immobilize my body and cover my face. I had about 2 inches of snow covering my face and was lucky to be able to punch my arm out and clear the snow from my mouth. My partner dug the rest of me out and we were able to self extricate. It was hard to tell whether this was a wind slab or if it failed on the last storm interface. I didn’t walk up to the crown to look at the bed surface but the crown looked to be about 10-12 inches max.